Morphological characteristics and degradation vulnerability of hill side slope soils under natural forest and agroforestry in semi-arid Telangana, India

Morphological properties of soils of natural forest and agroforestry ecosystems

Abstract

A study was conducted in the natural forest and agroforestry land uses in the semi-arid ecosystem in Telangana, India to understandthe morphological properties of soils in a profile and their vulnerability towards land degradation. A total of five pedons weremorphologically studied, four from natural forest and one from agroforestry from the hill side slopes landform of the study area.Soils from the agroforestry ecosystem possess dark reddish brown, sandy loam A horizons and dark reddish brown, sandy clayloam B horizons with dominant sub angular blocky soil structure. Soils of natural forest ecosystems had a dominant soil textureof sandy clay loam at the surface and sandy clay in the subsurface, indicating the process of clay illuviation. Land degradationvulnerability was assessed using the properties viz. thickness of the surface horizon, surface texture, surface structure, erosion,bulk density, pH and organic carbon, available P and K of the surface as indicators. It was found that P3 (0.89) was very high, P1(0.72), P2 (0.78), and P4 (0.78) were high, and P5 (0.69) was medium in its land degradation vulnerability status. The very highvulnerability of P3 could be attributed to the very severe erosion, lower pH of 5.35 and medium status of organic carbon (0.71),available P and K. The soil reaction, organic carbon content, texture, structure, and nutrient status could thus be considered asgood soil quality indicators to assess the land degradation.